Forget Me Knot

It is a topic of shame and avoidance for China to talk about the generation of girls from the 1980s to 2000s who were abandoned, orphaned, and killed. This was due to the implementation of the One Child Policy and China’s traditional preference for sons. Forget Me Knot focuses on bringing social awareness and less stigma for orphans, as they are often ostracized by the general public in Mainland China.  

Conceptually, Forget Me Knot is inspired by a series of personal diaries. The project is divided into a four-part book series for four different types of girls on their birthdays: a baby that was abandoned, a disabled child in an orphanage, a teenager in an orphan school, and an adult that was adopted into the West.  Each girl receives a ‘forget me knot’ on their birthday. The ‘forget me knots’ are traditional Chinese knots shaped like forget me not flowers. They represent the Chinese sauvastika knot, which is a symbol of overcoming hardship, and forget me knots, which are flowers that symbolize remembrance.   

The project entails detailed body copy written for each story, which plays an important role in the overall style of the project. Each illustration that accompanied the text was done traditionally using lino prints. There is also packaging that holds the book series and promotional items such as a channel strip, a shelf talker, and a mobile ceiling sign for the bookstore in which the book series would be sold, as well as two posters for bus stops near the bookstore.